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Assurance on XBRL Instance Document: a Conceptual Framework of Assertions

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Assurance on XBRL Instance Document: a Conceptual Framework of Assertions Assurance on XBRL Instance Document: A Conceptual Framework of Assertions Rajendra P. Srivastava Ernst & Young Professor and Director Ernst & Young Center for Auditing Research and Advanced Technology School of Business, The University of Kansas 1300 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, Kansas 66045 Email: [email protected] and Alexander Kogan Department of Accounting and Information Systems Rutgers Business School – Newark and New Brunswick Rutgers University 180 University Avenue, Newark, NJ 07102-1895 Email: [email protected] 1 Assurance on XBRL Instance Document: A Conceptual Framework of Assertions ABSTRACT XBRL stands for extensible business reporting language. It is an XML based computer language for reporting business information. Starting December 2008, the United States Security and Exchange Commission (US SEC) has a proposal requiring top 500 public companies to file their financial statements with the SEC not only in the text format (i.e., in ASCII or HTML) but also in the XBRL format. The file created using XRBL language is called an XBRL instance document. Under this requirement, the filers are not required to obtain a third party assurance on the XBRL instance document. The main reason for not requiring a third party independent assurance of XBRL instance documents is to encourage filers to comply with the SEC requirement without incurring much added costs. In addition, to encourage the filers to comply with this requirement, the SEC is not holding filers legally liable of any errors in the filed XBRL instance documents so long as they look similar to the standard reports when viewed using the SEC viewer. Even though the SEC is not currently requiring a third party assurance of the XBRL instance documents of the SEC filings, it is in the best interest of the public that these documents be assured. Although there have been efforts by both the practitioners and academics to investigate issues involved in providing assurance on XBRL documents, these efforts have been focused on the specifics of the assurance process and the difficulties involved in it; but no efforts have been devoted to developing a framework of assertions similar to the management assertions in the financial audit. Without a conceptual framework, the assurance process for XBRL instance document would be incoherent and inconsistent. This paper develops a set of assertions for providing assurance on XBRL instance documents similar to the management assertions for financial audits. Further, we discuss how such a framework would assist auditors in planning and evaluating such an engagement by collecting appropriate items of evidence pertaining to specific assertions to form an opinion whether the instance document is a true representation of the text document. We also discuss how the use of a technology would make the assurance process more effective and efficient. Key words: Assurance, Assertions, XBRL, Instance Document, Framework 2 Assurance on XBRL Instance Document: A Conceptual Framework of Assertions 1. INTRODUCTION The main purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework of assertions for providing assurance on XBRL instance documents. Similar to financial audits, we develop a comprehensive set of assertions that are essential for providing quality assurance on XBRL instance documents. In addition to developing the basic assertions for a quality assurance, we demonstrate, through examples, the assertion based approach to be the most effective and efficient way to provide assurance services on XBRL instance documents. Recently, the SEC (2008) published Proposal: Interactive Data to Improve Reporting in which it defines the assurance on XBRL tagged document to mean that “The tagged financial statements are accurate and consistent with the information the company presents in its traditional format filings”. However, the document does not define the meanings of “accurate” and “consistent”. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB 2005) through its Staff Questions and Answers provides general guidance as to the nature of assurance without giving any specifics of the attributes or assertions to be tested and validated for the assurance services on XBRL instance documents. Similar to PCAOB, Assurance Working Group (AWG) of XBRL International (2006, see, e.g., Boritz and No 2008) provides similar guidance but does not provide any framework of assertions for the assurance process. AICPA Assurance Services Executive Committee (2008) has recently published a White Paper titled: “The Shifting Paradigm in Business Reporting and Assurance”. This White Paper “examines the current state of business reporting, identifies the key forces of change that are 3 challenging the limitations of this current state, and sets forth a current and future migration path toward a model that better addresses the needs, challenges, and opportunities of the 21st century.” However, this paper too does not provide any framework of assertions to achieve the assurance objective on the XBRL instance document. Although, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Boritz and No 2008) had performed an assurance service on the United Technologies Corporation’s (UTC) instance document without a formal set of assertions, in an attempt to indentify issues and difficulties involved in the assurance process, Boritz and No (2008) performed a mock audit of the 10Q XBRL instance document of UTC. Their approach consisted primarily of tracing every item in the paper version to the XBRL instance document and every item from the XBRL document to the paper version. It took them about 63 hours to complete the task. At the end of the process, their conclusion was that they had high assurance that “the 10-Q XBRL-Related Documents were a complete and accurate reflection of UTC’s 10-Q.” Although, based on the detailed work done by Boritz and No (2008), one can say that their audit approach was of high quality, however, there is no reference point or framework to judge whether they did everything that was needed to be done to make sure that the instance document truly represented the paper document. The question again is what constitutes “true representation”. Just recently, Plumlee and Plumlee (2008) discuss the issues involved in providing assurance on XBRL instance documents. They talk about materiality issues, statistical sampling issues, and control related issues. However, they do not talk about or discuss a conceptual framework of assertions for the assurance process as one would need to conduct the service. The general requirements under SEC Proposal (Rule 405 Regulation S-T, SEC 2008) for preparing the financial statements under XBRL tagged format are: 4 Information in interactive data format should not be more or less than the information in the ASCII or HTML part of the report Use of the most recent and appropriate list of tags released by XBRL U.S. or the IASCF as required by EDGAR Filer Manual. Viewable interactive data as displayed through software available on the Commission’s Web site, and to the extent identical in all material respect to the corresponding portion of the traditional format filing The SEC (2008) expectation is that the validation software would Check if required conventions (such as the use of angle brackets to separate data) are applied properly for standard and, in particular, non-standard special labels and tags. For example, if a company uses the word “liabilities” as the caption for a value data tagged as “assets,” the software would flag the filing and bring it to the staff’s attention. In contrast, if the company used “Total Assets” or “Assets, Total,” the software would identify the use of these terms as a low risk discrepancy. Identify, count, and provide the staff with easy access to non-standard special labels and tags Identify the use of practices, including some the XBRL U.S. Preparers Guide contains, that enhance usability Facilitate comparison of interactive data with disclosure in the corresponding traditional format filing Check for mathematical errors; and analyze the way that companies explain how particular financial facts relate to one another. The technology used to show these relationships is known as a “linkbase.” The Commission will seek to ensure that linkbases not only comply with technical requirements but are not used to evade accounting standards. A closer look at the SEC Proposal and its position on the accuracy and completeness of XBRL tagged documents, and also at the other efforts on either providing assurance (PWC, and Boritz and No 2008) on XBRL instance documents or the guidance provided by AICPA (2008) and PCAOB (2005), we come to a conclusion that there seems to be a general lack of conceptual framework of assertions that would make the assurance process effective and efficient. These current approaches seem to be similar to what the audit process used to be some 60 years ago before the publication of “Philosophy of Auditing” by Mautz and Sharaf (1963); a bunch of 5 procedures to be performed specific to each balance sheet account. In the present paper, we logically argue for a set of assertions that determine the quality of the XBRL document. These assertions then lead to appropriate audit evidence for providing the assurance on these documents. While the SEC (2008) has proposed to mandate top 500 companies to file their financial statements in XBRL tagged format for fiscal period ending December 2008, it does not require preparation of and assurance on such documents by an independent third party. The SEC contention is that the filers of the XBRL tagged document would like to make sure that the tagged financial statements are accurate and consistent with the information the company presents in its traditional format filings as evidenced by the following excerpt (SEC 2008). “We are not proposing that filers be required to involve third parties such as auditors or consultants in the creation of the interactive data provided as an exhibit to a filer’s periodic reports or registration statements, including assurance. We are taking this approach after considering various factors, including: the availability of a comprehensive list of tags for U.S.
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